This time, Erin extended the high five which Cameron slapped hard.
“I’m with you, Cam,” Erin said. “If I had any real alternative to teaching; if I could earn six figures in the corporate world, I’d be there tomorrow.”
“Ugh!” Shay snorted. “Money. Life isn’t all about money, Mom.”
“I’d like to see you try and live a month without it, honey,” she said kindly. “It’s a necessity for sure and a very nice thing to have a little extra of.”
“Well, I’m with Adam on the important issues,” she announced. She got up, stood next to him and said, “May I?” pointing to the open space next to him.
“Please,” he told her.
“Well, I tend to agree with Cameron so…” Erin got up and did the same thing and ended up sitting next to Cameron.
“There, that’s better!” Erin said matter-of-factly. “Now we’re sitting by someone with whom we at least have things in common.” Everyone laughed indicating no one was actually upset by the different like and dislikes.
After another half hour of more pleasant conversation, Adam suggested they really should probably get going. “Oh, right,” Cameron said. “You’ve got papers to grade already.”
“Erin? Can I talk to you privately for a moment?” he asked.
“Of course,” she told him as she led him back into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Is it something with Shay at school?”
“No, nothing like that,” he said. “It’s just that Cam and I were talking and he/I/we kinda thought it would nice if he invited Shay to Homecoming and I wanted to give them some privacy. That’s all. Of course, now that they know they’re on opposite sides of the political fence…”
Erin laughed. “Oh, my goodness! That’s wonderful. The Homecoming part, that is. ßI hope she says yes. Shay really needs to spend some time doing things other than studying. And like you, Cameron is a very handsome young man and if I dare say, he has a very good head on his shoulders, too.”
Adam smiled and Erin said, “Adam? I was wondering if, well, maybe you might like to, you know, go out sometime, too. I mean, it’s up to you of course. I was just thinking it might be…”
“Erin?” he said cutting her off. “I’d love to. In fact, I’m chaperoning Homecoming. Would it be too cheesy to ask you to go with me? Assuming Shay says yes, of course.”
“Cheesy or not, I’d love to! You’ve got yourself a date, Adam!” she said cheerfully.
As they walked back into the living room, Cameron was sitting next to Shay and they were both smiling.
“So…?” Adam said.
“She said yes,” he told his older brother.
“Awesome!” Adam said. “Now, don’t get all crazy, okay? You know I’m chaperoning Homecoming, right?” Cameron nodded and Shay, who just learned that fact, nodded, too. “Well, Erin suggested we do something together too, so I just asked her to go with me so…is that okay?” Adam’s eyebrows were raised and his voice went up at the end of the sentence.
The two younger people looked at one another and smiled. Shay said, “Well…as long as both of you stay on the old people’s side of the room, I guess that’ll be fine.” Everyone laughed and said goodnight which included hugs for both couples and small kiss on the cheek from Adam to Erin.